Political Crisis Just 1 Of Rome`s Many Woes

November 18, 1987|By Uli Schmetzer, Chicago Tribune.

ROME — As if a government crisis weren`t enough trouble for one week, the Italian capital has been crippled by wildcat transport strikes, demonstrations over pension cuts and barricades by irate Romans demanding ``Gypsies, Go Home!``

Amid accusations that the nation has become ungovernable, President Francesco Cossiga on Tuesday asked resigned Prime Minister Giovanni Goria, 45, to try to resurrect the same five-party coalition that fell Saturday after a life span of four months.

As Goria, a Christian Democrat, shuttled between party headquarters, his coalition partners made it clear they want the Liberals back in-even though the alliance would still enjoy a majority in Parliament without them.

The Liberals, who won only 2 percent of the vote in the last election and held only the defense portfolio in the Cabinet, pulled out of the shaky coalition in a huff when their demands for budget cuts were ignored.

But since their withdrawal the rest of the junior partners-the Socialists, the Republicans and the Social Democrats-have discovered a sudden solidarity with Liberal aspirations for changes in economic policy. Each party now is also lobbying for its own pet project-and missing no opportunity to criticize the Christian Democrats.

``The Goria government has taken the country to the point of being ungovernable,`` complained Franco Nicolazzi, leader of the Social Democrats.

His claim echoed the irritation of many Italians, who this summer elected porn queen Ilona Staller to Parliament. Her election was interpreted by sociologists as ``a popular protest vote`` against bickering party politics.

The new government crisis coincided with an unprecedented spate of wildcat strikes that could close airports Wednesday and play havoc with train transportation.

In what promises to be the worst week for travelers in Italy this year, the walkouts over wages canceled 60 Alitalia flights on Monday alone and are expected to cause cancellations and delays for the rest of the week.

Railway employees warned of similar action.

In Rome`s narrow alleys, stinking garbage has been piling up for days because collectors are on strike. Postal workers have not delivered the mail, and telephone service is erratic on local and long-distance calls.

The capital came to a standstill Tuesday after thousands of pensioners marched on Parliament to protest the erosion of their pensions by inflation.

And for the last four days, several of Rome`s satellite cities have been cut off by residents who set up barricades on main roads to protest a City Hall scheme that would settle the capital`s Gypsy population in open countryside around their neighborhoods.

Carrying signs that read ``Gypsies, Go Gome!`` and worse, the militant residents also set up tents on the railway line to Pescara, cutting that link for the last two days.

Neighborhood spokesmen said that if the 15,000 Gypsies settled in their areas, residents would be afraid to leave their homes.

The Gypsies have become a major problem over the last two years. Attracted by Rome`s large tourist population, Gypsies are blamed for most of the pocket-pickings and burglaries that plague the capital.

But by Tuesday night a three-day emergency meeting of Rome`s Municipal Council had failed to find a solution to the Gypsy problem or any alternative sites for their caravans.

In the meantime, police have twice clashed with residents who set up roadblocks with old tires and furniture that left traffic backed up for 13 miles on the Tiburtina road. The barricades also cut off the hillside town of Tivoli, a major tourist attraction 30 miles from Rome. Two residents were injured in the clashes.